THE Tembari Children's Care (TCC) Inc is a day care facility at ATS Oro Settlement, 7-Mile, outside of Port Moresby, PNG. To date, it takes care of more than 200 former street children - orphans, abandoned and the unfortunate - by serving them meals twice a day, and providing them early education. Assistance - food and money - is sent by supporters who find merit in the services we provide to these children. At The Center, they are family. For all of these, we need support that is sustainable.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Penny Sagembo, The Center's founder and matriarch, tells the children that they will have a new set of three teachers soon. The previous teachers had walked out after they were not paid fortnightly allowance of K50 each. The Center did not have enough to cover this expense.

Ivan Lu, executive director of RH (PNG) Group, gestures after learning that the Learning Center (CL) seen in the background which serves as the pre-school children's classroom costs K15,000. RH Foundation, which is helping the Tembari children, is looking at providing another of this classroom to accommodate the third batch of 15 pre-schoolers. The two CLCs at The Center were donated by Digicel Foundation.

These kids gather inside their classroom to browse their book readers and to chat. On this day, they had no class as their teacher walked out after being unable to collect her fortnightly allowance of K50.

Kids and their guardians wait for Saturday's special lunch to be served. The ingredients used for the meal were sponsored by a supporter who shelled out at least K150 to provide The Center's 83 children a special lunch of meat, rice, soup and cordial drink. Every Saturday lunch is being sponsored by different individuals.- All pictures by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZA Friend Of Tembari Children

SOMETIME ago, the 40 or so pre-school age kids at The Center were abandoned by their teachers.

Reason: The Center was unable to pay their fortnightly allowances of K50 in exchange of tutoring the three classes on alphabets and numbers.

The Center just did not have cash to pay the three teachers their allowances which cost K300 a month.

Hayward Sagembo, the president of the Tembari Children Care (TCC) center, had pleaded long enough for the three women-teachers to come back to The Center.

The 40-45 children who made up three classes had already missed a lot since they walked out and disappeared.

“I promised them that once money is raised, we could pay whatever we owed them,” says desperate Hayward.

He told me that the walk-away teachers are also from the community – the ATS Oro Settlement at Seven Mile outside of Port Moresby – so they should help in looking after the kids who are also from the this place.

The teachers, on the other hand, reasoned out they also had to spend in coming to The Center, that’s why they requested for the fortnightly stipend.

They made the request middle of last year but had been unable to collect most of the time. Early this year, they decided to walk out.

For what it’s worth, the teachers had a point – the rising cost of living is being compounded by their need to spend some on PMV fares and all.

Hayward said that the little money TCC has was being prioritized for the daily feeding of the children, who, that time, numbered 78.

“Three-hundred kina for the teachers’ allowances is quite a burden on us, since we have to make do with the K400 grant we receive every month from We!Care PNG to feed the kids,” he said.

Until a few weeks ago, the kids were only being served lunch four times a week. Lunch meant a slice or two of bread, kawkaw and cordial drink.

Learning about the allowance issue, I talked to some friends who would care to listen, with no results, except that some had chipped in cash for my especial Saturday feeding.

“I would like to help in my small way,” said one of my friends, who shelled out K150 to cover the cost of the food that I was to cook for the kids that Saturday.

A few days ago, while at the supermarket gathering the ingredients for the next Saturday’s cooking (which I do at The Center with help from volunteer mothers), I bumped into an old friend, my very good friend Nene Sta Cruz, a Port Moresby old-timer.

I haven’t seen her in ages, so we had a long “how’s the weather” chat in one corner of the supermarket until I told her about my present “hobby” – that is looking for people who would care to support the Tembari children.

I told her about our problem paying for the allowances of the volunteer-teachers.

Immediately, she popped the idea: Why not ask Yiannis (Nicolaou of Lamana Hotel) … he is the president of the PNG Children’s Foundation.

Yiannis and Nene are close buddies and they work together doing charity works.

The PNGCF is the benefactor of the home for the abandoned kids which Nene looks after.

“Tell him your problem … who knows?” she told me.

Last week, I decided to email Yiannis and asked him if his foundation would be able to help.

Last night, Nene called me at my work place to break the news that Yiannis, after consulting with her, approved my request.

His decision to help the Tembari kids came a day after he read my email.

The PNG Children’s Foundation will pay for the allowances of our newly-recruited three volunteer teachers for at least one year.

Informed of the good news, Penny Sagembo, founder of The Center, was elated, knowing that there would be no more interruption in the learning process of our beneficiary children.

Two weeks ago, we recruited and engaged the services of three volunteer teachers – two females and one male – with a promise of a K50 allowance for each a fortnight, without actually knowing where we could source the money.

We were concerned about the children being less productive every day in their classrooms, just browsing on their book readers and trying to operate a pencil.

For all you know, Penny and Hayward were banking on me to hit another strike on this one as what they have been doing since I popped into their lives.

So far, I have not failed them – yet.

And now, funds finally came.

So, the children are back in their classrooms for good five days a week, four hours a day, learning the three “Rs” – reading, writing, and (a)rithmetic.

Thanks a million to Yiannis, Nene and the PNG Children’s Foundation --- from the Tembari children.

Personally, I would like to thank Yiannis and Nene for greatly relieving us – the TCC overseers – of some critical funding constraints.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Dinolla Tion (left), RH Foundation public relations officer, discusses with TCC chairman Hayward Sagembo the foundation’s plan to put up water facilities at The Center, while the plumber (right) makes his notes.

Ms Tion (right) turns over to TCC chairman Hayward Sagembo a cheque donation for K3,000 from an anonymous donor at RH (PNG) Group. The proceeds from the cheque would pay for the many needs of The Center.

Volunteer mothers cook rice for the children’s lunch that will go with sliced sausage and veggies. The kids were also served a glass of milk each, courtesy of recent visitor, American air hostess Diane McLea, who also brought goodies donated by her friends in the US.

Another visitor at The Center last Saturday was TJ Khoo, The National newspaper’s production editor (center, in white T-shirt), who brought some goodies for the children. – All pictures by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZA Friend Of Tembari Children

LAST Saturday, a plumber came to see how The Center could be connected to an existing water source nearby.

The plumber was sent by The RH Foundation, which is now looking at ways to help the children under the care of the Tembari Children Care (TCC).

The water tap is operated by the village association at the ATS Oro Settlement and collects fees from residents for certain amount of water sourced from the tap.

The Center will use the water in cooking the daily lunch of the children. At present, it fetches water in buckets from the nearby tap.

The next facility would come is a water storage tank.

Earlier, the British High Commission said it was also donating water tanks to The Center, with funds coming from a recent fundraising fun-run activity held in Port Moresby.

Once a water connection is made, a toilet and a bathroom will come next for the children’s use.

The bathroom will allow the children to wash at least once a day to keep them physically clean and hygienic.

We are looking at a septic tank type of a toilet which is more sanitary and easier to maintain.

With water now readily available, The Center could start a food garden where fast-growing veggies could be grown for use at The Center’s soup kitchen, which provides lunch to the children every day.

The garden would be developed by volunteers from the settlement.

The Center is feeding 83 orphans, abandoned and neglected children from the settlement.

Also, The Center received a cheque donation for K3,000 from an anonymous business executive at RH (PNG) Group. He will also provide The Center with rice and fresh milk every month.

The first delivery will arrive on Thursday, April 1.

This way, the children will have better nutrition and thus, improve their health gradually, the benefactor told me.

Earlier, another anonymous donor also pledged to deliver a monthly supply of rice to The Center. He made the first delivery of 160kg early this month.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

American air hostess Diane McLea with the children of the Tembari Children Care (TCC).

Diane (right) and Penny Sagembo with her son beside the many items which were donated by the visitor's friends in the US.-- Pictures BY ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

The writer, with Diane in a picture taken atop a hill in Port Moresby where one could see the panoramic view of the city harbor. - Picture courtesy of Ms DIANE McLEA

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZA Friend of Tembari Children

MIAMI-based air hostess Diane McLea did not hesitate to fly to Port Moresby on Wednesday night last week.

There was this group of 83 children whom she eagerly wanted to meet the next morning, even for a few minutes – these children whom she discovered through Google.

These kids live at ATS Oro Settlement outside of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea and are being cared for by a fledgling care group.

Was her planned coming to PNG, which was to take place in a few days’ time, and her by-chance internet-googling of the orphans, abandoned and neglected children under the care of the Tembari Children Care (TCC), pure luck or coincidence?

For her, it was both. All along in her career as air hostess that spans 20 years, she has been looking for young people across the globe whom she could help.

And she just did that in her travels to Africa and South America and other countries where her work brought her with both pleasure and sheer mental and physical fatigue.

Diane, 41, started her career at age 17, with a training sojourn in air hosting in Makati City, Metro Manila. Later, the city became her temporary home. (No wonder she picked out my accent quickly when I first spoke with her).

But over her entire life, she has been moving from one country to another, starting in Sao Paolo, Brazil, when she was 4. Her dad, an engineer, worked with a multinational company. Then she lived in Ibiza, Spain; then in Milan, Middle East, Paris, Senegal, Cairo, and then Manila. She’s now settled in Miami, Florida.

Before she joined her current employer, she worked a number of years as air hostess for a Kuwaiti Royal family.

Sometime last week, our blonde air hostess was on a frenzy of preparing for her next flying assignment in the Pacific and was searching on the internet for people, young people in particular, whom she may visit and, if opportunities permit, help.

She felt that almost all refugee camps that popped on her screen are highly-organized by international humanitarian groups if not sponsored by the host-country’s government. Not to mention their being crowded and stressed up for lack of food and what-have-you.

There was a time some years ago when she was in Africa and chanced upon a young man on crutches along the road while she was driving.

Talking with him and discovering how he ended up losing two legs, she offered help to cheer him up. The guy could not believe his luck.

But since the crippled young man lives in a refugee camp along with hundred others, Diane decided to move on later, looking for new prospects.

“Refugee camps hosts several hundreds if not thousands … what I wanted was a small group which I can interact with and relate … and maybe develop some kind of person-to-person relationships …” Diane told me.

Why not try some orphanages, she might find her luck there. Of which she did.Googling for “orphanage”, the Tembari Children Care (TCC) Inc blogsite (www.tembari.blogspot.com) immediately popped on her screen, advising that it is based in Papua New Guinea.

No kidding! And just to think that she was flying into this country in few days’ time! She really couldn’t believe herself.

Reading one of the blogs that told the children’s story, she was immediately hooked.

This is the sort of thing she wanted to take on – a struggling orphanage with a growing number of beneficiary-children making do with only kawkaw (sweet potato) and sliced bread for lunch four times a week. Only four times a week! What about those days in between? She can’t believe it!More stories and pictures downloaded, amusing her no end that goose-bumps crawled all over her as she regarded how the kids looked in their young, innocent faces. “Too young to lose parents!” was what quickly jammed into her head.

“I was quite excited but anxious, and seeing those kids in pictures while they ate their meals and smiled on camera, I felt my heart melt … yes! I’m going to see them …”

Immediately, she told her friends in the US about her rare find and what she wanted to do for them.

Taking their cue at what she was driving at, her friends – Kubs Lalchandani, Dr Younan of Palm Beach Surgical Center (California), Mike Gerber, Nancy Freitus -- hastily put together various stuffs which comprised the goodies that she bundled into their sleek jet.

Now, with only a few hours left in her less-than-24-hour-stay in this burgeoning city of POM after flying in on Wednesday night, Diane made it a point to carry out her only agenda for coming:

To travel to the ATS Oro Settlement at 7-Mile outside of Port Moresby and say “hello” to the kids of Tembari Children Care (TCC).With her in tow are goodies which she promised me in her email just hours before she took off for her POM trip.

Stuffed in seven pieces of luggage, the goodies included a few week supplies of powder milk, medical and healthcare items, footwear, clothing, chocolate bars and a lot more.

All courtesy of her good friends back home.

And Diane had a special present to Penny Sagembo, the co-founder and coordinator of TCC, and of course, The Center’s matriarch – a brand new (laptop) notebook Asus Eee PC sent by her friend Dr Yonoun of Palm Beach Surgical Center.

The generous doc also sent some cash in US currency for The Center’s miscellaneous expenses.

Penny had been dreaming to own a laptop to help her prepare the profiles her 83 kids. Until the laptop came, she was only handwriting her reports as she did not have access whatsoever to personal computer. Now, she can work properly.

As a token of their exploding appreciation, the kids presented Diane a unique shell necklace and a PNG-motif ceramic vase. Possessing such a beautifully-crafted ceramic work made her so ecstatic.

The kids serenaded her with a song in pidgin, and she was teary-eyed.She told them: I am really fortunate to have met all of you … I will cherish this few minutes I have been with you … I wish I could stay another two hours … but I have to go now … I’ll be back, sweethearts …”

“Now, I know what to do when I travel … I would be telling my friends in those countries about “my kids” in PNG … this way, they could expect more help and not only from me.”

Shortly after reading all my articles on blogsite www.tembari.blogspot.com about The Center’s activities, she emailed me about her soon-to-come quickie trip to PNG and of her wish to see the Tembari kids as soon as she arrived.I hastily made such arrangements.

Last Thursday, all of us – the children, volunteer- moms and volunteer teachers, Penny, TCC chairman Hayward Sagembo, and me – were on Cloud nine for having with us a new friend and benefactor in Diane McLea.

On Friday morning, she emailed me from Australia to say how much she enjoyed the few minutes she had with the kids and that she wished to be with them again one of these days.

We love you Diane! Lukim yu!

(ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ refers to himself as a “Friend of Tembari Children”)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

BAREFOOT-walking is embedded in Papua New Guinean cultures, tracing its origin as far back the cave and jungle stage.

Even with the advent of a modernizing society which took a giant leap from the hunting stage, clueless as to whatever happened to the agricultural phase in the nation’s life, and plunging into the computer era, unaware of the industrial revolution through which nations of the world today have found their true bearings and relevance to societies across oceans and continents, barefoot-walking in this country has remained to be the order of the day.

But one thing for sure: It’s not fashion.

In the olden days when only jungle and bush paths allowed people to access another place outside of their exclusive domain, walking on bare feet was deemed most convenient. Walking with nothing worn, in short, was for sheer convenience and comfort.

You can see these walkers everywhere – in the villages, urban centers and cities. It’s a common sight at shopping centers and of course, work places, where so- called etiquette is always relegated to the deep background because it has no relevance to the person concerned or to what he is engaged with.

But these days, convenience or comfort could no longer be the reason for which individuals walk barefooted. With certainty, it is poverty.

I would not go far just to pursue my point.

At the Tembari children’s center, bare feet simply show that poverty is an everyday reality. It inhabits every child’s young life. It thrives in living color but presents the black-and-white of his day-to-day’s hardships.

A food line at The Center is one such graphic example.

The sight of a child being barefooted while waiting for a meal that he or she doesn’t find at home is heart-wringing.

And a pair of eyes that relishes on the good life would be scandalized.

But one day, The Center hopes to see our kids wearing at least a pair of thongs – everyday, not only during the days when they attend school -- to protect their soles, lift their spirits and offer them new hopes that their lives could also change for the better.

And to see them queuing for much-anticipated meal, no longer lacking in life’s barest necessity.

(The Tembari children center at ATS Oro Settlement, Seven-Mile outside of Port Moresby, is a halfway home for 83 orphans, abandoned and neglected children.)

Monday, March 22, 2010

Ms Suzanne Laister, executive assistant to the British High Commissioner to PNG David Dunn is welcomed by the members of the Tembari Children Care (TCC)at The Center led by Penny Sagembo, TCC co-founder. Ms Laister visited the children to find out how the British High Commission could help them out with their everyday needs.

Suzanne listens intently while Penny explains how The Center operates.

Children listen to the news brought to them by Suzanne from High Commissioner David Dunn.

The Tembari children while inside their classroom. -- All pictures courtesy of the British High Commission in PNG

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZA Friend of Tembari Children

SHORTLY after our American visitor Diane McLea left last Thursday, a new group of callers arrived at The Center to meet the children and to find out how their organization would be able to help out with their daily needs.

The team came from the staff of the British High Commission in PNG led by Suzanne Laister, executive assistant to British High Commissioner to PNG David Dunn.

Ms Laister told Penny Sagembo, the co-founder of Tembari Children Care (TCC) and Hayward Sagembo, TCC chairman, that they just held a fund-raising drive by running a mile along the streets of Port Moresby.

“The proceeds of this fund-raising will all go to the beneficiaries of TCC,”Ms Laister said.

Penny thanked the assistance the British High Comm is offering and furnished them a list of things that The Center needs to be able to function properly and productively and thus, cater for the immediate needs of the 83 orphans, abandoned and neglected children under its care.

Among the biggest concerns right now at The Center is its lack of access to power and regular source of water for drinking and for cooking the meals of the children, Penny said.

The children, Penny told Suzanne, have their lunch at The Center everyday, except Sunday.

The 42 children who are attending 16 elementary schools around Port Moresby come to The Center after their classes for lunch. Likewise, the 41 pre-schoolers holding classes at The Center from 8am-12am also take their lunch prepared by volunteer mothers.

Suzanne, in email sent to me yesterday, said they are now looking at how the High Comm could provide The Center with an overhead water tank.

“I spoke to Penny about their needs and we will be looking to finalize within the next few weeks how to best spend the money raised (from the fun-run).

Apparently, the overhead water tank is just one of the many facilities that the British High Comm is planning to provide The Center.

“I will speak to Penny again this week to discuss future plans,” Suzanne said.

Shortly after the fun-run last Thursday, British High Commissioner to PNG, David Dunn, said: “We are very proud that the whole BHC team, family and friends have been able to gather together to run a mile for Temberi Children’s Care centre.

“We are also very excited to have played our role and put PNG on the map in what is now a global event!

“My thanks also goes to the many individual and corporate sponsors who have partnered the BHC in what we hope will become a regular annual event here in Port Moresby.”

The British High Comm had learned of The Center’s activities through articles posted on www.tembari.blogspot.com.

This website is updated regularly to inform its growing number of supporters on developments taking place at The Center.

The run is one of the largest charity events in the UK and was held in Papua New Guinea for the first time as the UK charity Sport Relief went global.

All the monies raised are donated to nominated local charities.

In PNG this year, the British High Comm has decided to help the TembariChildren Care (TCC) center to further boost its capacity to provide care to itsyoung wards.

(A number of blog readers and those who happened to read my online column “Letters from Port Moresby” have asked about how the Tembari Children Care (TCC) Inc came to existence. To those who found the curiosity, I thank them. Who knows, they might, in their own time, decide to help our kids. It is therefore my pleasure to repost the story I carried in LFPOM column and published in The National’s Weekend magazine sometime ago. -- APH)

FOR quite sometime, she grappled with the problem: There had been a growing number of children in her settlement who were losing a parent -- either the father or the mother-- if not both, to HIV/AIDS, TB or cancer.

And their care had been left to their equally helpless grandmothers who could barely meet their needs as they grew older.

Left with nothing to support them, their “bubu” had allowed them to wander in the community all day, with no prospect of seeing a classroom ever in their life.

Penny Sage-Embo (aka Sagembo), then newly-married six years ago at 20, wanted to end this anomaly. And she knew how to do this although it would be an uphill battle.

When she was a 15-year-old girl back in Oro province, she was involved with the children’s ministry under the Anglican Church, where her dad was one of the priests.

At least, with this childhood experience in dealing with the problems of her much-younger peers back then, she got something to fall back on.

At the ATS Oro settlement at Seven-Mile on the other side of the Jackson International airport where her family lives, Penny started the first step in her quest to rescue the settlement’s orphans, abandoned and neglected children, whose number had become a big concern – she told the lay leaders of the local Anglican church of her plans. That was in 2003.

They just looked at her and then flatly dismissed her ideas.

“No way,” they told her.

Their senseless rejection of her dreamt orphanage ministry devastated her. She thought that with their church support, rescuing these kids would be much easier. But sadly, this would not be the case.

Was she a victim of church politics? The question has lingered inside her head up to now. She couldn’t believe that these lay leaders were the very same people who would play church politics for their own ends!

Undaunted, she took a very drastic decision: She got out of her church, but not necessarily renouncing her faith as a devoted Anglican.

“I got out of our church (Anglican) so I could form my own ministry … this way, it would not run in conflict with programmes our church had in mind during those days,” Penny, now 30, told this writer last Saturday (December 5) at the Digicel Christmas picnic for orphan children at the Botanical Garden.

And to make sure she could get funding support from charitable institutions, she registered her ministry known in her settlement as the Temberi Children’s Care (TCC) with the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA).

But so-called birth pains dogged them. That time, TCC was already looking after some of the village’s 30 orphaned children.

Being a new group, theirs had no funds with which to feed her “children”; running on empty a project for more than five years was next to impossible.

Her husband Hayward Sage, now 34, then working as salesman of Badili Hardware, had complained a lot. She was spending for the feeding programme from her own fortnightly pay as counsellor at Anglicare Stop AIDS.

And Hayward had reluctantly chipped in from his own pay packet, complaining that “we’ve got our own problems in this household …” Eventually however, he later became the TCC chairman.

Still, Penny would go back to the lay leaders of her church for some small assistance, like for instance, requesting use of some church facilities such as chairs and tables during some ministry activities. She has always thought the kids belonged to the church and that there was nothing wrong if they sought its help.

But her request letters remained unanswered, not knowing whether or not they would ever help her. Help never came, anyway.

So, she went for little help from the Renewal Churches, the Covenant Ministry 72 International and the Christian Revival Crusade (CRC), which all welcomed her with open arms.

Early this year (March 2009), Fr John Glynn, the 73-year-old head of the WeCARe, learnt of Penny’s ministry, whose beneficiaries has now grown to 78.

The feeding programme, declared Fr John, is “meritorious and it needs some support”.

With the good Father’s intercession, Digicel Foundation came into the picture on March 16, 2009, allotting TCC a modest monthly funding of K400.

The monthly grant has afforded the ministry to serve the kids a measly lunch at least once, four times a week, for a total of 16 feeding sessions every month. The once-a-day meal, however, was wanting in many things, particularly nutrients.

With the soaring cost of foodstuff, Penny and her colleagues who are mothers like her would have to make do with whatever kina they have.

A K40-budget per feeding would be stretched to feed 78 mouths. And to fill whatever gap in the weekly food spending, they would use their own money.

“The monthly grant would not be enough anymore these days … but we have to make do with what we have,” Penny said, without worrying much about it.

“God will always provide … and it has been that way ever since.”

Marina van der Vlies, chief executive of Digicel Foundation, is not only impressed with Penny’s determination to make a change in the life of her 78 “children”. In fact, she considers her a “visionary”.

Marina says of Penny, now 30 and mother to a boy, 3, and a girl, 7: “She’s not only after her wards’ physical uplift by providing them badly needed nutrition … she also has seen their future role in the country’s development through education.”

“She’s doing such a good job … you should see her school (at the settlement – the two Digicel Foundation-sponsored CLCs).

“An excellent project, hers is a great example that her community must fully support.”

Marina said what Penny and her colleagues are doing right now is basically trying to develop a “culture of volunteerism” in the community that deserves solid support.

“She’s taking the lead and this is not an easy task …” says Marina.

“We, at Digicel, will be there for her.”

Looking back at her first biggest failure ever as an organiser –that is, getting the support from the lay leaders at her village church who, apparently, are just green with envy over her feat – she knew she has bounced back from it several times over.

“She did it with flying colours,” Marina said, referring to her success.

(The people who belittled her quest to help the needy children in her settlement decided to shut their mouths. As of this little footnote, The Center has the support of 12 business entities and institutions and several generous individuals who believe in the kind of change The Center seeks for its 83 children.)

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Ivan Lu, executive director of Rimbunan Hijau (PNG) Group with Penny Sagembo, co-founder of the Tembari Children Care (TCC), a care group, and the children during his visit of the center last Saturday.

Ivan points to something while taking a look around the premises where The Center operates as a care group.

The RH Group executive director stresses a point while Hayward listens intently.

Ivan talks to the parent-volunteers while the kitchen's pot steams in the foreground.

Penny talks to a kid shortly before the day's special lunch is served.

Volunteer-mom struggling to build fire that will boil some 25 liters of soup to go with the day's special lunch.

Children queuing to wash their hands before eating their lunch. Hand-washing is one of the health practices that they learned from The Center.

Kids queuing for their special Saturday lunch which is sponsored by individuals who wanted to give the kids a nutritious meal.

A long que for the day's special lunch.

Soup of the day: onion-egg soup. The Saturday special lunch always comes with steamed rice, dish of the day and special soup -- cooked by the writer.

Lunch of the day ... This curry chicken dish is almost done; it is something that the kids would have for lunch for the first time.

Lunch is ready to serve! These are mom-volunteers who serve the food to our hungry kids.

Kids enjoy their lunch.

Other kids prefer to enjoy their lunch in the comfort of their classroom.

A little patience while on queue is all they need ...

Lunch is taking time to be served ... but anyway.

There are also a number of "gate-crashers" during Saturday's special lunch, prompting The Center to provide ID tags to TCC-registered beneficiaries. We learned that they have been sent by their parents to partake of the day's lunch.

This is the premises of The Center made up of some shady trees and two Community Learning Centers (CLCs) that serve as children's classrooms. The CLCs were donated by Digicel Foundation.

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZA Friend of Tembari Children

LAST Saturday, Rimbunan Hijau (PNG) Group’s executive director Ivan Lu visited The Center with great news: His organization has sent him to find out how it could help boost the welfare of the 83 orphans, abandoned and neglected children being looked after by the Tembari Children Care (TCC).

Ivan told me that he was sent by the RH Group management after a meeting held the night before. The Group has decided to come in through the RH Foundation.

Actually, I learned about this RH decision to help The Center on Friday night after my boss at The National newspaper instructed me to pick up Ivan at the RH Group’s HQ on Saturday morning. Ivan wanted to see the site where TCC operates.

And also to find out how the Group “could come in”.

The truth is, I had already anticipated this development several days ago. I had a talked with CC Ang, general manager of RH Hypermart, about our feeding program.

He felt that RH could help The Center in one way or the other, and told me to keep my fingers crossed. Earlier, Mr Ang sponsored one special Saturday lunch for the kids.

Then, a few days ago, a staff of RH Foundation emailed me, referring to an article I wrote about our feeding program.

Ms Dinolla Tion said the foundation would like to know how it could help with feeding the kids.

I told her “like this and like that”, and furnished her with a long list of what The Center needs, for which I felt the foundation could help us out with.

TCC, a care group registered with the Investment Promotion Authority, looks after the nutritional and educational needs of the children at its makeshift facility at ATS Oro Settlement, Seven-Mile, just outside of Port Moresby.

During that Saturday meeting, Ivan told TCC chairman Hayward Sagembo and TCC Co-founder Penny Sagembo that RH Group had learnt a lot of their activities in promoting the welfare of the beneficiary-children and that it (RH Group) had seen new opportunity to help.

"It is one of our concerns as a corporate citizen of Papua New Guinea," Mr Lu said.

Mr Sagembo has given Mr Lu a list of what TCC urgently needed.

"The facilities are badly needed to help TCC do its job efficiently and productively towards promoting the welfare of the orphans.

"For instance, we have no access to electricity and that the water needed to cook meals for the children is collected from a distant tap," Mr Sagembo said.

Mr Lu told The National that would also personally be extending help after "seeing the dire needs of the orphans".

He said RH Group was very active in helping various charity groups in the country through its foundation.

TCC provides the orphans lunch from Monday to Friday aside from cooking for them a special meal every Saturday which is sponsored by individuals and corporate entities.

The centre also looks after the education of its pre-school and school-age children.

Friday, March 19, 2010

American flight stewardess Diane McLea sorts out goodies in one of the seven luggages she brought in to The Center while Penny Sagembo (left), volunteer mothers and the children look on.

Diane(right) and Penny and her young son pose beside the many stuffs that the American visitor brought for the kids.

Penny proudly shows off a brand-new laptop gift from a good friend of Diane, Dr Younan of Florida.

Diane receives from Penny a PNG pottery item as token of appreciation from the Tembari kids. The visitor also received a unique shell necklace from her hosts.

Diane joins the kids in a photo for posterity shortly before she returned to the city on Thursday.

Diane, with journalist and Tembari Children's friend Alfredo P Hernandez in a picture taken atop a Port Moresby hill where one can see the panoramic view of POM harbor.

Rare visitor at The Center

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZA Friend of Tembari Children

LAST Thursday, we had a rare visitor in the person of Diane McLea, of Miami, Florida, USA.

She flew into Port Moresby the night before for a quick visit of the city.

Diane, 41, works as air hostess and she’s been in the business for over 20 years now, starting her career when she had a training sojourn at 17 in air hosting in Makati City, Metro Manila. Later, the city became her temporary home.

(No wonder she picked out my accent quickly when I spoke with her for the first time).

Before she joined her current employer, she worked a number of years as air hostess for a Kuwaiti Royal family.

Now, with only a few hours left in her less-than-24-hour-stay in this burgeoning city of POM, Diane made it a point to accomplish her own agenda for coming:

To travel to the ATS Oro Settlement at 7-Mile outside of Port Moresby and say “hello” to the kids of Tembari Children Care (TCC).

With her in tow are goodies which she promised me in her email just hours before she took off for her POM trip.

Stuffed in seven pieces of luggage, the goodies included a few week supplies of powder milk, medical and healthcare items, footwear, clothing, chocolate bars and a lot more.

All were donated by her friends back in the US.

But Diane had a rare present to Penny Sagembo, the founder and coordinator of TCC, and of course, The Center’s matriarch – a brand new (laptop) notebook Asus Eee PC donated by one of her friends in the US. He also sent cash in US currency for The Center’s miscellaneous expenses.

This friend of hers, Dr Younan of Florida, has a passion for helping people, Diane said.

As token of the kids’ appreciation, The Center presented her a unique shell necklace and a PNG-motif ceramic vase. Possessing such a unique ceramic work made Diane so ecstatic.

Several days ago, I posted on this blogsite about Penny’s wish to use a laptop in profiling the 83 kids now under the care of The Center, a tough job that proved impractical handwriting the individual kiddy assessment.

Diane actually has beaten to the mark another benefactor of TCC -- David Ulg Ketepa of Michigan, USA -- who was about to DHL a laptop he has retired after upgrading to a new model.

Now, our friend David has to convert that laptop into more exciting goodies for the pleasure of our kids.

“I wish I could stay for another two hours with the kids,” Diane told Penny, while the kids were singing a welcome song in pidgin.

But she had another pressing errand in the city and had to take her leave quickly as her time was running out.

“They’re just lovely … I will miss them,” she said, now getting a bit emotional.

“Please get me pictures with them,” she told me, handing to me her sleek camera.

She learned of The Center’s orphanage on the Internet just last week when she was preparing for her latest trip.

She was surfing for care groups based overseas which she could visit one day during her job-related flying.

And she’s already tired of refugee camps, those highly-organized camps in South Africa, and wanted something small where she could interact more personally, with tender loving care.

She googled “orphanage” and presto, the first item that popped on her screen was Tembari Children Care (TCC) Inc. … Papua New Guinea!

And just to think that she was flying into this country in just a matter of days! She really couldn’t believe her luck.

“I was quite excited but anxious, and seeing those kids in pictures while they ate their meals and smiled on camera, I felt my heart melted … yes! I’m going to see them …”

The next thing she knew was that she was calling friends in the US, like Kubb Lalchandani, Dr Younan of Florida, Mike Gerber and Nancy Freitus, Mr and Mrs R, Ron Ruthledge among others. She told them of her rare discovery and what she wanted to do for them.

Taking the hint, her friends immediately put together various stuffs which comprised the goodies that she handed out to the kids last Thursday.

“Now, I know what to do when I travel … I would be telling my friends in those countries about “my kids” in PNG … this way, they could expect more help not only from me.”

Shortly after reading all my articles on blogsite www.tembari.blogspot.com about The Center’s activities, she emailed me about her soon-to-come quickie trip to PNG and of her wish to see the Tembari kids as soon as she arrived.

I hastily made such arrangements.

Last Thursday, all of us – the children, volunteer- moms and volunteer teachers, Penny, TCC chairman Hayward Sagembo, and me – were on Cloud nine for having with us a new friend and benefactor in Diane McLea.

On Friday morning from Australia where she’s having another sojourn, she emailed me: “It was a wonderful experience and I hope to return soon and have the opportunity to spend more time with the children.”

THE BLOGGER

ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ, A Friend of Tembari Children. Blogger APH came to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, in 1993 to join The National newspaper as one of its pioneering journalists. Working as Executive Sub Editor, he has remained with the daily, now the country’s No. 1 newspaper, up to these days. He has been a journalist since his university days in Manila back in the late 60s. APH’s involvement with the Tembari children began in January 2010 after he discovered them at a Christmas party for the city’s 500 unfortunate children held at the Botanical Garden in Port Moresby. That day, he was chasing a story for The National, which happened to be that of the unfortunate children in the city. His self-appointed job for Tembari children composed of orphaned, abandoned, neglected and unfortunate children is to look for people and groups who could provide them food, money, health services and facilities necessary to create positive changes in their lives. This job is difficult, but what the heck …!

(Our sponsored Saturday lunch for the 200 Tembari kids costs only K250.00 per sponsor (we usually have two), which covers a special meat (fish or chicken) dish, veggies, steamed rice and cordial drink. The Saturday lunch needs at least two sponsors. Some had given more, allowing us to give the kids a generous heap of the day’s lunch. A rare bonus to the sponsors, along with the bricks they earn each time, is that I personally cook the dish, giving it a personal touch. And as they earn a brick, each of our benefactors also earn a passage into the heart of the Tembari kids, which is also a prepaid ticket to Heaven.)